Editing Mesechtas Negaim (section)

== Examination of Afflictions ==
It is ruled that a Kohen who has a defect, being blind in one of his eyes, is disqualified from examining afflictions. Rashi's commentary on the Torah derives this from the verse "for all the appearance to the eyes of the Kohen." The Rebbe investigates whether the deficiency of not seeing with one eye is a disqualification of the person (gavra), similar to a Kohen with a blemish who is disqualified from service, or if it is a disqualification in the examination of the afflictions.

The Rebbe explains based on the known fact that there are two laws in examining afflictions: one is the actual seeing, for which it is ruled that all are qualified to see afflictions, not just Kohanim; and the second law is ruling whether it is pure or impure, which is specifically the role of the Kohen himself. Based on this, one can investigate regarding a Kohen whose eyesight is diminished, whether he is only disqualified from seeing the afflictions, or also from the second law of ruling whether the affliction is impure or pure. In the Meiri, two opinions are presented on this: some say he is only disqualified from seeing the affliction but can rule pure or impure, while others say he is also disqualified from declaring it impure or pure.

The Rebbe explains that this depends on the above investigation. If the disqualification is in the person himself, since he cannot see properly, then it is clear that he is also disqualified from ruling whether the affliction is pure or not. But if the disqualification is only in seeing the affliction, then it is reasonable that the Kohen is only disqualified from seeing and deciding if the affliction is pure or not, but not from the actual declaration of pure or impure.

In practice, the Tannaim of the Mishnah and the Toras Kohanim disagree on this investigation. In the Mishnah, this law disqualifying a Kohen with an eye defect is described together with the parallel law that a dark house is not given windows to see its afflictions. For the Tanna of the Mishnah, the disqualification is in the very lack of ability to see, and in a dark house, windows are not opened because the Kohen's sight must be complete without outside light. Therefore, according to the Tosfos Yom Tov, a Kohen is not disqualified if one of his eyes is dim, because if he can still see with one eye, there is no deficiency in his vision according to this approach. The fact that a Kohen is disqualified if blind in one eye is a scriptural decree, as it is written "for all the appearance to the eyes of the Kohen."

However, the Toras Kohanim holds that the disqualification of the Kohen is because when he does not see well with one of his eyes or does not see at all, he is considered to have a blemish regarding examining afflictions. Therefore, the Toras Kohanim holds that from the verse "for all the appearance to the eyes of the Kohen," which comes to exclude seeing hidden places, one cannot learn this disqualification of a Kohen whose one eye has darkened. This is because while the former is a disqualification in the object of sight, the latter is a disqualification in the person, and one cannot learn both teachings from one verse. This is in contrast to the Mishnah, which holds that both teachings are learned from the verse "for all the appearance to the eyes of the Kohen."
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